Nokia Partners With Mercedes-Benz Over Smart Maps 2 Other Hot Stocks to Watch

On Tuesday, Nokia announced that it will work jointly with Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz car arm to create and develop digital smart maps. The Finland-based firm says that its mapping and location services division, HERE, and Mercedes will at first provide 3D maps for the Mannheim to Pforzheim route in Germany for automobiles linked to a computing cloud. Nokia said at the Frankfurt Auto Show that connecting vehicles to a cloud is “one of the biggest opportunities for the automotive industry today.”

Starwood announced Tuesday the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 25 million shares of its common stock for aggregate estimated gross proceeds of about $607.5 million or approximately $698.6 million if the option to purchase additional shares is fully exercised. The underwriters have a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 3.75 million shares. Settlement of the offering should occur on September 13. The firm intends to use the net proceeds to originate and acquire additional commercial mortgage loans and other target assets and investments.

Inovio and Roche said Tuesday that they will collaborate to research, develop and commercialize Inovio’s highly-optimized, multi-antigen DNA immunotherapies targeting prostate cancer and hepatitis B. The licensed compounds are presently in preclinical development and have generated robust T-cell responses in animal models. Roche purchased an exclusive license for Inovio’s DNA-based vaccines INO-5150 (targeting prostate cancer) and INO-1800 (targeting hepatitis B) along with the use of Inovio’s CELLECTRA electroporation tech for delivery of the vaccines.

Through the terms, Roche will make an upfront payment of $10 million to Inovio, and will also supply preclinical R&D support and payments for near-term regulatory milestones, together with payments upon reaching certain development and commercial milestones, potentially up to $412.5 million. Additional development milestone payments might also be made to Inovio should Roche pursues other indications with INO-5150 or INO-1800. Beyond that, Inovio may to receive up to double-digit tiered royalties on product sales.